What a visitor experiences, in order
A visitor lands on your locator and, before typing anything, sees a map. They search, narrow, and pick. Every step is a setting, and this page follows the journey from the first paint to the click on a location, naming the control that shapes each step and linking to the page that configures it. Read it once end to end; then go deep where you need to.
Before the visitor searches
When the locator opens decides the first view: every location zoomed to fit, an approximate start near the visitor from their connection, a place you choose, or an empty locator that waits for a search.
Visitor location asks the browser for a precise position as soon as the page loads. Some visitors would rather choose the moment: the locate me button beside the search box lets them tap when ready. Both are under let visitors use their location. A visitor who declines keeps the approximate view; one who arrives with neither sees the whole network.
What visitors can search by
The search mode is the big choice: a place search that geocodes a town or postcode and sorts by distance, or a text search that matches names and addresses. Details under choose a search mode.
With a place search, address autocomplete suggests places as they type, city and region only or full addresses, restricted to the countries you serve. Picking a suggestion centres the map there and sorts everything by distance.
A radius selector with a default radius narrows the list to what is within reach; Radius marker visibility keeps the map showing the same set as the list. See place and radius.
How visitors narrow results
Search answers "what is near me". Filters answer "which of these is right for me". Each tag group you create becomes a filter, as a dropdown per group or inline checkboxes, with counts beside each option if you want them and the map refitting to what remains. The open now filter uses each location's hours in its own timezone. All of it is under configure filter behaviour and location hours.
Why results appear in that order
Sort by is distance after a search, or priority then name, or name alone. Priority on a location lifts a flagship above the rest regardless of distance, within a radius you set so a flagship in another city does not appear first. Dealer territories can pin the owning dealer first or show only them; the dealer locator guide covers that.
Auto-select first opens the top result after a search, as a detail pane or a popup, and the nearest-location summary puts a one-line answer above the list.
Browsing the map instead
Map move updates re-sorts the list to the visitors' viewport as they pan, which suits a visitor exploring a region rather than searching for one place. Marker clustering keeps a dense network readable at low zoom and splits as they zoom in; see configure clusters.
When nothing is nearby
No results either shows an empty state with an expand-search button that steps the radius up to the first preset that returns something, or shows every location with a note. Online-only locations appear in their own tab whatever the search found, so a shopper with no nearby store still has a way to buy. Configure it under empty and no-result states.
How the pieces fit
| Visitor step | Setting | Where | | --- | --- | --- | | Lands | When the locator opens, Visitor location | Search and location | | Types | Search mode, Address autocomplete, Countries | Search and location | | Narrows | Radius, Filters, Open now | Search and location, Filter behaviour, Hours | | Reads the order | Sort by, Priority, Territories | Results and sorting, Territories | | Explores | Map move updates, Clustering | Map behaviour | | Finds nothing | No results, Online tab | Results and sorting |
Every control above is listed with its options in the settings reference, and the connector can change any of them by name: "turn on the radius selector with a 25 mile default".